New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
YALE GRADS TO GET CEREMONY, BUT NO GUESTS
As area colleges plan in-person exercises, pandemic restrictions will have impact
In-person commencement ceremonies are returning to college campuses across the region for the class of 2021, but don’t expect large crowds.
In some cases it will be a graduatesonly affair.
Yale University said graduation caps will again fly across Old Campus in
New Haven during in-person celebrations on or around May 24 but they will not be falling on guests. Guests will be barred from campus during the ceremonies.
In a campuswide email distributed Monday, university President Peter Salovey wrote the ceremonies will be broken up into groups of 500 graduates at a time.
“Our public health experts believe it is unlikely that everyone will be protected from COVID-19 by commencement
day; it takes time for inoculations to be completed and take full effect,” Salovey said in the message to students. “We also must be vigilant about emerging strains of the virus that are highly infectious. Our priority will always be the health and well-being of students, faculty, staff, and those in our surrounding communities.”
“Our celebrations will include graduating students who are studying on campus or remotely this year; however, we regret that we will not be able to invite guests to campus,” he said in the message to students.
“Know that everyone across the campus is proud of you, and we look forward to recognizing your achievements,” Salovey said.
Salovey also noted that university Secretary and Vice President for University Life Kimberly GoffCrews is working closely with other leaders, student groups and others “to identify ways in which your families can share in celebratory events remotely.”
External speakers and honorary degree recipients are considered guests, so will have to record speeches via Zoom.
That includes Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who is slated to speak at the School of Public Health’s commencement.
Salovey plans to publicly speak during commencement as well as record his remarks for the graduating class on the Yale 2021 website.
Goff-Crews said graduating students can attend whether they studied on campus or remotely, though there will be a testing and quarantine procedure for students arriving from off-campus.
“At the end of the day, I really believe that although it will be different it will still be very meaningful,” Goff-Crews said in a statement.
The ceremony promises to be different, but far more in keeping with Yale traditions than in 2020, when the pandemic forced commencement ceremonies online.
A plan to bring the class of 2020 back on campus for an inperson ceremony is still on hold.
At Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven, a series of mini outdoor commencement ceremonies are also planned — five in all — on Jess Dow Field between May 18 and 19.
Unlike Yale, Southern grads can bring up to two guests.
Jason Edwards of Ansonia, a member of the Southern class of 2021, said Tuesday that it is great the university is holding a commencement ceremony that makes sense.
“Like anything in the past year or so, nothing is ideal,” said Edwards. “But this is the year to realize some sacrifices have to be made.”
That said, Edwards said he is looking forward to walking and participating in the ceremony.
Edwards said he expects it to be special, emotional and a big deal.
At the University of New Haven in West Haven, the class of 2021 has been told that based on the latest health guidance there will be an in-person graduation with each graduate allowed two ticketed guests at Bridgeport’s new outdoor Harbor Yard Amphitheater. UNH will have a morning and afternoon ceremony on Monday, May 17.
At Quinnipiac University in Hamden, an in-person graduation will be held piecemeal, over several days, on the Mount Carmel Campus Quad, where small, live ceremonies will be held, according to the Quinnipiac website.
The Quinnipiac undergraduate school of health sciences will kick off things at 9 a.m. May 8.
Quinnipiac also said it would have 10 in-person ceremonies for the class of 2021 from May 8 through 11.
The university also will hold a ceremony for the class of 2020 the weekend of May 15-16.
At Albertus Magnus College, the class of 2021 will receive undergraduate and graduate degrees in a joint commencement ceremony for the classes of 2020 and 2021 in front of the Rosary Hall on May 16 and “will include several of the annual traditions that date back nearly a century,” according to the college.
Gov. Ned Lamont recently eased restrictions on public gatherings, announcing that outdoor gatherings of up to 200 people at commercial venues will be allowed starting March 19. Beginning April 2, outdoor event venues can increase to 50 percent capacity, capped at 10,000 people, under Lamont’s new guidelines.
At Southern, the return to in-person commencement also signals a change in venue.
In recent years, until 2020, commencement was held at the Harbor Yard Arena in Bridgeport, and, before that, the Connecticut Tennis Center. This year, the ceremonies will be held on campus, split between college, and schools. The ceremonies will be livestreamed for those not allowed to attend.
The first scheduled are College of Arts & Sciences STEM, psychology, general studies and interdisciplinary studies majors at 10 a.m. May 18, to be followed at 2 p.m. that day by College of Arts & Sciences liberal arts majors.
On May 19 at 9 a.m., the Southern College of Health and Human services will set off, followed by the College of Education at 4 p.m.